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Commerce ministry seeks Tk259cr to revitalise TCB

The commerce ministry has sought Tk259 crore for Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to prepare the state trading agency ahead of Ramadan so it could play a role in stabilising the essentials market.

The commerce ministry wants to help revive the corporation with government finance support, Joint Secretary Monoj Kumar Roy told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said they have no option but to seek the government finance to stabilise the price of essentials ahead of the holy month of Ramada.

Last week, the commerce ministry sought Tk200 crore endowment fund from the finance division and Tk59 crore to meet the gap between the high price of buying essentials from the market and lower selling price at consumers’ level during the month of Ramada.

The endowment fund will be used to enhance the capacity of TCB through procuring trucks and expending the capacity of godowns.

The government has already amended the TCB order 1972 in bid to empower the state-owned trading agency as a tool to intervene in the basic commodity market.

Earlier, the TCB sought Tk1,000 crore to enhance the capacity of TCB but the finance division rejected the proposal.

The government provided Tk58 crore to TCB in 2012-13 fiscal year, in 2011-12 fiscal year Tk77.6 crore, in 2010-11 fiscal year Tk69 crore.